Fighting the Darkness
by rosieamber
Summary: Jesse Harrison led a sheltered life until he finally goes off to Hogwarts. There he finally finds out about his true origins. Can you fight what is in your blood? Will his friends accept his dark past? Will the girl he loves?
1. Chapter 1: The Letter

Chapter 1: The Letter

When I woke up it took me a second to remember why today was so important. I stared at the ceiling in wonderment at the excitement turning my stomach. Then in hit me. _Today is my 11__th__ birthday! I'll be getting my Hogwarts letter! _I jumped out of bed so fast my vision was gone for a moment and I had to clutch the bed post for support. When I could see again and my head wasn't spinning, I ran out of my room, and down the stairs so fast I nearly fell again. I ran to the kitchen and my feet, clad in socks, slid a few feet on the linoleum as I came to an abrupt stop and spotted my mother, still wearing here pajamas and scrambling eggs at the stove.

"Mum, has the post arrived yet?" I asked, my voice shaking with excitement.

For a second she just stared at me standing there flushed with anticipation and a dark look crossed her face, like me getting my letter meant something which should not call for such excitement. Her perfect eyebrows pulled together and she replied "Oh yes, honey, it's on the table" An attempted smile crossed her face but the peculiar dark look stayed in her eyes.

My head filled with questions, none of which seemed to have an obvious answer. My mother seemed to notice me staring at her in calculation because she put another forced smile onto her face and turned back to the stove. I decided she was just worried about me going off to Hogwarts on my own. My mother tended to be very over protective and sentimental so it wasn't surprising.

I then turned quickly to the table until I found a thick parchment envelope with a green crest on the front. Happiness and relief flooded through me because I wasn't like other eleven year olds in the wizarding world, my future wasn't set. I had just as high a chance of not getting the letter I was now clutching so hard my knuckles were turning white as I had of receiving it. The reason was simple: My mother was a pure-blood squib. She had never shown any magical talent in her entire life. She had integrated herself into the muggle society at the age of 15 and hadn't had contact with her family since. I had never known my father, and my mother refused to talk about him, she wouldn't even tell me whether or not he was a muggle. She insisted that now was not the time for me to find these things out, that she would tell me when I was older.

My life was one of secrecy and hiding. We had never stayed in the same place for too long, never made too good of friends with the neighbors, never really had anyone besides one another. My mother refused to tell me why we never saw her family, where my father was, why we always seemed to be running from something, hiding from someone. I had looked forward to the possibility of going to Hogwarts ever since I had found out about it. I knew that once I went there, I would always have one home until I was old enough to be on my own. No matter where my mother decided to move us next, I would always go back there. I hoped it would be everything I felt I had missed out on all my life.

My eyes were wide with excitement as I read through all the books I would be buying. I would finally learn how to use magic and become a wizard! I always knew I was a wizard because from the age of 8, I could move things with my mind and sometimes, I felt, make people do what I want them to do. I never used these abilities or told my mother about them because I knew she would feel bad because she has no magic, even with a wand, and I have so much with no training at all. I knew when I went to Hogwarts I would succeed.

My mother looked over my shoulder and frowned, her blue eyes taking in my jubilant smile. "Stop day dreaming and come eat breakfast, birthday boy", She said, obviously trying to be chipper and failing.

I sat down at the table and she turned away quickly, but I saw the tears which had been gathering in her eyes spill over.

_Thanks for reading. It's my first fic and I'd like to know what you think so please review ___

_It's just a start, next chapter will be longer!_

_Thanks,_

_Rose_


	2. Chapter 2: The Train

_Disclaimer: I'm so freakin broke right now I wish I was richer than the queen of England, but I'm not because I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters so that sucks._

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Chapter 2: The Train

My mother clutched my arm as we walked through Kings Cross station. I'd never been there before and was looking around wildly at trains leaving and entering the platforms and just the shear number of people. My mother never took me into public unless she was forced to and even then the places she chose always seemed to be rather deserted. All day when we shopped for my school things she always seemed to be glancing around like she was sure someone would recognize us. I found this odd because after many years of speculation I had become sure that my mother no longer had any friends or even acquaintances in the wizarding world. She had never so much as had a friend over for tea my entire life and no one had ever called besides unwelcome, overfriendly neighbors over the years, and all of them muggles. Something strange was going on, and I was determined to find out what it was.

My mother continued to cut off my circulation and, similar to earlier that day, she glanced over her shoulder nervously. "Jesse, over here by platform 9", her voice shook when she said my name and I looked at her suspiciously. She offered me a tight smile, which looked wrong and seemed to strain her check muscles.

Keeping her vice-like grip on my arm, she directed me to face the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. She had explained this to me earlier and it still sounded rather fishy, like a badly-thought out prank. _Just run at that completely solid looking barrier, you'll come out into another world. _I guess I thought a bit like a muggle, having lived among them and pretended to be like them all my life. I shook my head as if to get rid of the handicap as I took hold of my trolley, and glanced around to check for watching muggles. That's when I saw her.

She was flanked by her mother and father and standing a ways back from us, as if waiting for us to go through. She had long glossy black hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to shine with intelligence. Those eyes met mine and the world seemed to stand still. The only thought that ran through my head was: _Who is this angel?_ After what could have been a long time or possibly just a few seconds, my mother pulled me from my reverie when she dug her nails into my arm and started carting me towards the barrier. _Jeez mom_, I thought, _Get a freakin grip._

I was distracted from my thoughts of the girl from the platform when we reached the barrier and seemed to walk through it as though it did not exist at all. Suddenly, we were standing on a platform next to a scarlet steam engine emitting billows of steam. The platform was slightly obscured but I could still see the hectic and delightful scene before me. There were so many obvious wizards. I could not believe my eyes. Many were clad in brightly colored, floor length robes, which I heard about in one of my millions of interrogations about the wizarding world but never actually seen. Even more were dressed in the worst attempt at imitating muggle dress I had ever seen. The teenagers seemed to understand muggle dress but many of the adults appeared to have donned brightly colored, badly clashing designed clothing and, in a few cases, clothes meant for the entirely wrong gender. I burst into laughter before I could help myself. My mother simply stood beside me with an amused smirk on her face. The closest thing to a real smile I'd seen on her face since the day I turned 11. I got the feeling she'd seen the spectacle before.

My eyes were tearing up and my stomach hurt from laughing when I felt someone brush against me and saw a girl about my age walk up beside me. Wait, it wasn't just a girl, it was THE girl. The amazing one from the platform. I stopped laughing immediately and simply stared at her. My hands grew clammy and my heart began to race as she stared back at me with a confused why-is-this-weird-kid-staring-at-me expression. Then she raised her eyebrows into a what-the-hell-do-you-want sort of expression. Wow, I thought, at least this girl has some attitude. Then I realized that this wasn't good at all. Was I ruining my chanced with this beautiful girl by creeping her out the very first time I see her? I turned my face away, blood rushing up to color my face.

A plump woman with blonde hair and the same blue eyes as her walked up behind her and said, "Melanie, hurry up, you'll miss the train". The girl gave me one last slightly scathing look and departed, following her mother towards the train with a natural grace.

_Oh great_, I thought, _Way to go, loser. _Melanie. Her name was Melanie. She was also probably going to hate me for the rest of my school career and there was nothing I could do about it.

_Crap_.

My mom then ushered me towards the train as well, exclaiming the exact same thing as Melanie's mother. Ugh, mothers were so predictable. My mother then bent down so her face was level with mine and peered into my eyes. I smiled at her and she attempted a smile back. Something was behind her eyes. Something dark. This wasn't the first time I had gotten the feeling she was watching for me to do something terrible, waiting for something dark to spring forth. The look in her eyes as she bent down to say farewell was as if she was using this one last chance to see that something she always seemed to be waiting for, to warn the others. "Are you sure you are going to be okay?" She asked, her voice thick with implications. And then that's when it happened.

I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to wipe my mother from the place of the planet. A fury swept through me that was like nothing that I had ever experienced before. I wanted her to stop judging me. I hated that look. _Hated_ it. With a passion I had never knew I contained. I wanted to take my brand new wand from my pocket and make sure I never saw her face again. I needed to know that I was better than her, more powerful. I wanted to show her that even though she thought I might be weak, might be less than her, I was more, I was better. She needed to know this. Everyone needed to know this. I saw pure fear creep into her eyes as she saw the cold fury in mine. She staggered back as if I actually had drawn a wand. What was happening to me?

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_Okay so this chapter is a bit more exciting, right? It only gets better, wait and see :)_

_Please review!_

_Rose_


	3. Chapter 3: The Arrival

_Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not JKR and don't own Harry Potter. In my dreams._

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Chapter 3: The Arrival

The train ride took almost the whole day. I had managed to find a compartment alone, even though the train was practically full. I spent the day-long train ride contemplating what had happened on the platform. I could not believe I had felt the urge to kill my mother. My mother, who had taken care of me by herself for my entire life. I had never felt anything but love for her. It was something in the way she looked at me, the way, in that moment, she believed me to be weak, and the way she thought she was better than me. Why had I reacted like that? Anger was understandable, I guess. But that **fury**-I had never felt anything like it in my life. And the urge to kill her? Where had that come from? It was like for a moment, before I snapped out of it, I was plain evil. I had felt so cold, so emotionless, as if all I had the ability to feel was hatred.

I was still lost in thought when the sun began to dip below the hills and as the castle came into view. I gasped, it was so beautiful. Up on a hill overlooking a lake, the many-turreted castle's lit windows reflected in the glassy lake below. I couldn't believe this was where I was going to live for the next 7 years of my life. It was so magical. It sounded to cliché, but I simply couldn't think of a better word for it.

It had begun to storm earlier that day and when I stepped off the train, I was immediately hit by thick sheets of ice-cold rain. Most people were running toward black carriages for shelter and passage up to the school. I was just about to follow when I heard a booming voice behind me and turned to see a towering man about the width and height of two normal men. "First years over here, please! First Years, this way!"

I was slightly terrified to approach him given not only his mammoth size, but his fierce appearance. He essentially looked as if he lived in the woods. His long, bushy hair and beard looked as if they hadn't been brushed in the last century and his overcoat seemed to be made of many small animal pelts crudely sewn together. I gathered my courage and walked up to him and held out my hand. "Hello, sir, I'm Jesse Harrison, I'm in 1st year", I said, trying my best to be polite.

A big toothy smile stretched across his face, lighting up his watery brown eyes, and he reached out his huge hand, which was roughly five times the size of mine, and crushed my hand with it. "Over here, boy, 'n don't bother with that 'sir' nonsense. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper and teacher here at Hogwarts. "

A smile spread across my face involuntarily and turned to join the group he had indicated behind him, who were apparently trying to shield themselves from the rain and wind behind his huge mass. Roughly 30 other kids my age, all dressed in brand new Hogwarts robes, soaked to the bone, and looking absolutely terrified. I looked around at the faces, and there she was again, right beside me. _Melanie_. As if she had heard me call her name, she looked up. Her hair was wet and windswept and her lips were blue from the cold, and she was still beautiful.

I reached out a shaking hand to her. "Hi, I'm Jesse." I said, my voice feeble, it didn't seem to want to work.

She smirked and gave a little cough-I never knew a cough could sound so menacing-and replied, "Melanie." As she said her name she jutted her chin towards me in an I'm-super-cool kind of gesture and continued, "Pleasure meeting you" in a tone of voice that suggested it wasn't a pleasure at all.

I lowered my eyes away from her perfect face to the wet flagstones of the platform, blood rushing to my face for the second time that day. My embarrassment was interrupted by the gamekeeper booming, "Okay, I think that's everyone, right this way. We'll be crossing the lake to get to the castle, it's a Hogwarts tradition!" He said the last sentence like it was good news, but it was met by a collective groan from the assembled newcomers. Cross the lake? In this storm? That sounded like the worst idea I had ever heard.

We all followed the huge man along a path until we reached a cluster of small boats at the water's edge. "Four people per boat!" He yelled over the howling wind. I was beginning to wonder if his voice ever lowered in volume. "I said four people per boat!" He yelled again from directly behind me as he caught 5 friends trying to fit in a cramped boat together. My ears rang. Apparently not.

To her obvious dismay, Melanie and I ended in the same boat (literally), along with two giggling girls who apparently thought crossing a dark, stormy lake in tiny bobbing boats that seemed ready to flip at any moment seemed quite hilarious.

The whole cold, wet ride Melanie kept her face turned away from me; as though she was scared I might try and make conversation. When we finally reached the castle I was bored of staring at the back of her head and pretty sure that this year, there would be no first years at Hogwarts because they were all going to die of hypothermia. That's how cold I felt.

We trudged up the stairs into the entrance hall of the huge castle, and stood there dripping a few minutes before a very flustered looking old woman walked briskly into the room. "Hello and welcome to Hogwarts." She began. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun at the base of her head and she wore long green velvet robes and a pointed witch's hat. "My name is Professor McGonagall. I am the headmaster here at Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry"

There was a gasp, apparently she was a well known woman. All of the first years seemed to be staring at her with widened eyes. I peeked at Melanie, she was looking almost as bewildered as I felt.

"Please wait here until it is time to sort you into your houses" She finished, and departed from the hall. The gathered students then erupted into chatter. "Was that really her...Did you know….Did she really…no way….I heard….."

My confused eyes met Melanie's and we both quickly looked away. She turned to her neighbor, a blond kid with what seemed like a permanent smirk on his face and asked "Wait, Why is she so famous?"

The whole hall seemed to quiet down a little bit and the boy and a few of his friends burst into raucous laughter. "You've never heard of her? What are you, a mud blood?" Many of the other boys around him started laughing even harder and Melanie looked at the floor with shame.

I don't what came over me but I burst out yelling "DON'T YOU CALL HER THAT", I may not have been a part of the wizarding world most of my life, but I knew what that meant.

The blonde boy turned to me, an evil smirk across his pale face, "This your girlfriend, then? Well, you can have her. Personally, I wouldn't go near her. Might go around stinking like a muggle if I get too close" His gang nearly fell over laughing.

I don't know why I did it. I don't know how I did it. Maybe it was because of the disgust on Melanie's face at the mention of being my girlfriend. Maybe it was because suddenly I felt the same inexplicable hatred and anger. I felt inferior and humiliated. I wanted him to pay, so badly that suddenly that hate consumed me and the next thing I knew I couldn't see his face because of the blood gushing from the gashes all along it. I watched as he fell to the floor trembling and crying out in pain. And then the terrible picture was no more and everything was black. The last thing I remember feeling was a deep satisfaction, like something in my life had just clicked into place.

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_I'd love to know what you think. Good/bad, whatever._

_Thank you, ncy555. You were my only reviewer and gave me the motivation to write this chapter._

_Next chapter: The Sorting :) _

_Thanks for reading,_

_Rose_


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